PRO BASKETBALL

PRO BASKETBALL; Jordan's Strained Ties to Wizards May Be Cut

By MIKE WISE

Published: May 4, 2003

A meeting planned for later this week between Michael Jordan and the Washington Wizards' owners, Abe Pollin and Ted Leonsis, was intended as a discussion about Jordan's possible return to the team's front office, but it may instead end their partnership.

Mounting player resentment toward Jordan and ownership's concerns about Jordan's work ethic as an executive -- along with Jordan's misgivings about the franchise's future -- have changed the relationship between Jordan and the franchise, according to two team officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Another Eastern Conference official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said yesterday that Jordan's advisers had been seeking to set up meetings about Jordan's potential ownership of other N.B.A. teams. The move has further infuriated the Wizards' ownership.

If the partnership does end, it will result in an organizational overhaul and the possible removal of Coach Doug Collins.

''All issues pertaining to the future direction of the franchise will be discussed later this week,'' Pollin, 79, said through a spokesman.

A spokeswoman said the recently retired Jordan would not comment, and a Wizards representative said Collins was on vacation and was not expected to return messages.

In an e-mail reply, Leonsis, the AOL vice chairman who is the majority owner of the N.H.L.'s Washington Capitals and a minority owner of the Wizards, also declined to comment until after the meeting.

The first wave of change came Friday when Wes Unseld, the team's general manager for the past seven years, announced that he was taking a leave of absence after the N.B.A. draft on June 26, although Unseld's departure had more to do with health concerns.

The Wizards, who finished with a record of 37-45 for the second consecutive season, did not make the playoffs for the sixth straight time. The off-season acquisitions of Jerry Stackhouse and Larry Hughes failed to produce the desired results. The Wizards' season ended in disarray, with Collins complaining about players' disrespect for his authority and with the thinly veiled criticism of Jordan by some of his teammates.

''Without Michael, we could be just as good of a team,'' Stackhouse recently told The Washington Post. ''I look forward to that challenge and I know other guys in this locker room, even though they may not say it, are looking forward to that challenge, too.''

Players who originally bought into Jordan's mystique soon became disenchanted with his constant criticism. That ill will, the officials said, may lead to Jordan's departure.

In the season's final days, when many of Jordan's teammates were asked if they wanted to contribute to a retirement gift, the Wizards arrived quickly at a collective decision: no.

When asked to pinpoint the demise of the team in exit interviews with Unseld, they bit their tongues. Seated nearby were Rod Higgins, the assistant general manager, and Fred Whitfield, the director of player personnel, both close friends of Jordan, who hired both men.

''I didn't feel like I could be honest,'' said one player, who spoke on condition of anonymity. ''If Mike goes upstairs again, he's got control of my career.''

The unrest and unpleasantness grew as the season wore on. Somewhere between the fanfare Jordan created in a woebegone franchise and two more losing seasons, players began to resent the icon who was supposed to lead the way to the postseason.

The two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said Jordan thought he could use his executive position on the court to bring about change in his teammates. But players resisted.

According to one official, Hughes was explicitly told by Jordan to get him the ball if he wanted to play. When Hughes began passing it to Stackhouse as much as to Jordan, he was soon benched.

Point guard Tyronn Lue, the official said, obliged and began finding Jordan every time he played. ''He was scared to death of what would happen to him in his career if he didn't,'' the player said of Lue. ''He was always looking at the bench at Michael.''

If the players did not take issue with Jordan in their final interviews, they did show unanimity in another way: every player laced into Collins.

Several players felt Collins was caught serving two masters: the organization and Jordan. Collins was told by management on several occasions to coach the team as if he were in charge and not Jordan. But the players, according to the officials, felt Jordan's influence superseded that of Collins, and it led to much friction. Hughes, Stackhouse, Christian Laettner and Bryon Russell were some of the most vocal players, but in the end most of them took issue with Jordan.

Some Wizards were especially bothered by Jordan's knack for upstaging them on national television, something he routinely did in Chicago during his championship runs with the Bulls.